China vows wider access to financial markets amid trade row

The Chinese president seemed to be addressing the concerns of US President Donald Trump, as the two countries grow closer by the day towards an all-out trade war.

Trump himself tweeted Tuesday that he was "very thankful" for Xi's comments and praised the Chinese president's "enlightenment".

Lower tariffs could mean better sales for USA vehicle companies, while banks could also gain entry into the Chinese market.

"The goal of this round of pressure from the United States was mainly to force China to make concrete commitments and measures", she said.

"It also meets the global trend toward development, cooperation and peace", Xi said in a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference.

The Dow rallied 429 points on Tuesday after Xi said in a speech that the Chinese government plans to "significantly lower" tariffs on imported cars as part of efforts to further open China's economy. He promised progress on areas that are US priorities, including opening China's banking industry and boosting imports to China. "Even so, with Xi's speech positioning China as conciliatory, the chances of a damaging trade war appear a shade lower".

US S&P 500 stock futures are also rallying, now up 0.8% as at 1.50pm in Sydney.

President Donald Trump speaks in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, April 9, 2018, at the start of a meeting with military leaders.

Talks hit a snag over U.S. efforts to curb Beijing's "Made in China 2025" program, which identifies 10 local industries to make globally competitive by 2025, and globally dominant during this century. In an op-ed in Financial Times, Trump's Director of Trade and Industrial Policy, Peter Navarro, said the Trump wanted a global trading system free of the imbalances and unfair practices that now hold growth back, not just in the U.S. but around the world.

Based on wire headlines from Reuters, Xi made all the right noises when it came to the outlook for Chinese trade policy, helping to calm investor nerves that have been rattled over the past month as trade tensions between the United States and China increased.

The offer represented half of Trump's demand for the country to reduce its trade surplus by $100 billion. China hit back with its own threatened tariffs on USA imports including soybeans, planes, cars, whisky and chemicals. The Chinese responded with their own threat of $50 billion in tariffs on USA imports.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday discussed economic measures such as lowering import tariffs to open up the country's economy.

Skeptics pointed out that China has made promises before and then not adhered to them.

"While blockchain's technological development has seen a major progress in China over past year with blockchain platforms launched by internet giants such as Baidu and Tencent, our regulatory initiative is substantially lagging behind". The Chinese president also used his speech to continue to present himself as a champion of trade and multilateral institutions, a role traditionally played by United States presidents.

But other analysts said Xi's remarks could help lay the groundwork for a compromise. "And we can only achieve win-win results by insisting on peaceful development and working together". So Gao Feng, a spokesman for China's Ministry of Commerce, gathered reporters Friday - on a national holiday at 8 p.m. - to warn the country "would immediately fight back with a major response" if Trump enacted the levies. USA investment into China was little changed at $14 billion.

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